ROME
Manila Bulletin
AFP
A former PR consultant to the Vatican on trial along with four others for leaking or publishing secret papers said on Thursday she would not ask Pope Francis for a pardon.
“Those who are innocent do not ask to be pardoned,” Francesca Chaouqui told journalists, ruling out a similar course of action to former pontiff Benedict XVI’s butler who was found guilty in the first Vatileaks trial in 2013 but later pardoned.
Chaouqui insisted prosecutors have “nothing that could lead to a conviction”, and the only thing that ties her to the leaks are accusations made against her by Spanish priest Lucio Vallejo Balda, who is also on trial.
Vallejo Balda has portrayed his former friend Chaouqui as a manipulative temptress, saying he was tempted to break his vow of celibacy because of her sexual advances, a claim she has rubbished.
Chaouqui insists that while she did stay in a hotel with him in Florence, he shared the room with his mother that night.
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